Annual Meeting Minutes 2026

AHS Annual Meeting, May 21, 2026 at 1:00PM CT

The meeting opened with a welcome and introduction by Chair, Elizabeth Jones-Minsinger. An update from SAA Section Liaison Angel Diaz followed. 

Steering Committee member Mollie Frazier reported on the Annual Winter Lecture. The lecture was given by Joel A. Blanco-Rivera on February 25, 2026, and was entitled "Archival Traditions in Puerto Rico: Historical Legacies and their Impact on the Management of the Files of the Intelligence Division." 

Steering Committee member Katharina Hering reported on AHS’s Spring Lecture by Laura E. Helton. The lecture was given on April 6, 2026, and was entitled "Mobilizing Manuscripts: L. D. Reddick and Black Archival Politics."  She also gave an update on the section’s newsletter, Archival History News. It can be found on the section microsite, at SAA Connect, and at archivalhistorynews.wordpress.com. Finally Katharina announced the newly-launched Archival History Section reading and writing group.

Steering Committee member Sharalyn Howcroft presented the Archival History Article Award, which the AHS Steering Committee awards for the best article or other short piece of excellence published in the previous calendar year in the field of archival history, regardless of subject, time period, or national boundaries. This year’s award was presented to Raymond O. Frogner for his article “Red Jenkinson: Tracing Indigenous Influences on Archival Theory,” which appeared in the Fall/Winter 2025 issue of Archivaria. Frogner offered brief remarks.

Sharalyn Howcroft also introduced the meeting’s invited speaker, Mark Cave, Senior Historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection. Cave highlighted a number of oral history projects undertaken by HNOC, many of which were launched in the immediate aftermath of local crises. His talk explored oral history interviews with first responders following Hurricane Katrina, wildlife rescue workers following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, participants in the fight for racial equality in New Orleans during the Civil Rights Movement, and members of New Orleans’ Vietnamese American community. The talk was followed by a question-and-answer session.

Following the talk, Elizabeth Jones-Minsinger made a brief announcement about the upcoming Archival History Section Steering Committee elections, which open on June 1, 2026 and close on June 15, 2026.

The meeting closed with brief remarks from the incoming chair, Katharina Hering, about what to expect in the upcoming year.